Late equaliser sees Prestatyn Town drop point

PRESTATYN Town manager Neil Gibson hopes to end the first half of the season on a high as they prepare for the visit of Airbus UK this weekend.

With their place in the Welsh Premier’s super six play-offs secure, Gibson hopes that a win over their top six rivals this Saturday can give his side confidence ahead of the mid-season break.

He said: “The top four has pretty much been TNS, Bangor City, ourselves and Airbus, and we’ve beaten TNS and Bangor, so it would be key to get a win against Airbus, after we had a few missing when we lost to them earlier in the season, because we want to finish as high as we can.

With rivals Bangor City losing 2-1 at Bala Town, Prestatyn rose to second place despite conceding a 13th minute stoppage time equaliser during a frantic 3-3 draw against Connah’s Quay Nomads last Friday, and Gibson was left unhappy with just one point.

He added: “ I think it’s two points dropped on reflection, I though we controlled the game for large periods, and with their goal coming from the last kick of the game in the 13th minute of stoppage time, it was a bit disappointing.”

The scoring began on 16 minutes, when the prodigious Rhys Healey ran on to a Ricky Evans through ball to poke beyond the returning Jon Hill-Dunt.

Town were back on terms four minutes later when Anthony Stephens headed home a Neil Gibson corner, and they went ahead two minutes later, when Andy
Parkinson put his magnificent 25 yard lob beyond keeper John Rushton.

Town looked even further in control when Danny Forde was shown red for a bad tackle but Nomads managed to level things up on 54 minutes through Chris Rowntree.

The seasiders looked for a third, and after Dave Hayes’ header was cleared off the line, the game stood still after keeper Hill-Dunt collided with Quay’s Ricky Evans, to leave him unconscious and with a nasty head wound.

After a lengthy stoppage, in which an ambulance was called for the keeper, Neil Gibson deputised between the sticks for Town and, after Parkinson grabbed his second, Nomads’ Rhys Healey achieved a similar feat at the end of 13 minutes’ allocated injury time.